Staff photo / R. Michael Semple. Warren G. Harding's Stephen Sims (8) fights off the tackle attempt by Massillon's Tra'yon Williams while rushing for yardage during first-quarter action.

WARREN — Massillon Washington extended its win streak against Warren G. Harding to nine with a 45-14 defeat of the Raiders on Friday at Mollenkopf Stadium.

The Tigers, who entered Friday’s game having only lost to a pair of out-of-state opponents, pounced all over Harding from kickoff.

On the third play of the opening drive, Massillon quarterback Jalen Slaughter went deep to Braylyn Toles over the middle for a 55-yard touchdown pass to give the Tigers an advantage 20 seconds into the game.

Harding gave the ball back to Massillon soon after; on the Raiders’ third offensive snap, quarterback Chaz Coleman fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Tigers’ Lennox Lemon.

Despite surrendering a big run by Slaughter and Massillon breaching their 10-yard line, the Raiders kept the Tigers out of the end zone. Instead, Massillon settled for a 29-yard Mateo Herrera field goal and took a 10-0 lead three and a half minutes into the game.

For much of the first half, Harding’s offense failed to move the ball, with each of its first three drives ending in punts. To make matters worse, Raiders players on both sides of the ball were whistled for personal foul penalties, which Harding head coach Matt Richardson said made it harder on his team.

“They’re a good football team,” Richardson said. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot early with those self-inflicted wounds, with personal fouls and stuff like that. It put us behind the eight ball, and you’re going to have a hard time coming back against the state champs if you put yourself behind the eight ball like that.”

After forcing and recovering a fumble by Jacques Carter, though, the Raiders found immediate success through the air with backup quarterback James Jones, who completed consecutive passes of 10 and 44 yards to reach the Massillon 11-yard line.

Harding could not cash in on its best offensive possession to that point, however, as the drive stalled just outside of the 10 and kicker Jaron Edmonds missed a 29-yard field goal.

On the ensuing possession, Massillon grew its lead to 17 with a 10-play, 80-yard drive that was capped off with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Slaughter to Ja’Meir Gamble.

With less than four minutes remaining in the half, after forcing another Harding punt, Gamble added another score to Massillon’s total; the Tigers back broke tackles and shrugged off defenders while rushing 24 yards into the end zone.

Harding’s offense finally managed to put points on the board in the dying moments of the first half, as Coleman led the Raiders on a nine-play drive that ended with the quarterback connecting with Airiz Coleman Bey on a 30-yard touchdown pass with just 11 seconds left on the clock.

“When your best players are making plays — Chaz Coleman’s making plays with the ball, giving us a chance — that kind of helped us get downfield,” Richardson said.

The Raiders’ offense could not carry the momentum into the second half.

After emerging from the locker room, Harding came up empty on its first four drives, during which time Massillon established a 38-7 lead and momentarily activated a running clock.

The Raiders managed to stop the clock a little more than midway into the fourth quarter, though, after a Tigers special-teams turnover inside their own 5-yard line.

On fourth and goal at the one, Coleman used his size and strength to power into the end zone for a quarterback sneak, cutting the deficit back to 24.

Moments later, Massillon triggered the running clock again, with a 55-yard rushing touchdown by Savior Owens giving the Tigers a 45-14 lead and eventual win.

After the defeat, Richardson stressed that the Raiders are still a “work in progress.”

With the victory, Massillon has now won the last nine meetings with Harding. The Tigers’ last loss to the Raiders came back on Sept. 9, 2016.

The loss also snaps Harding’s three-game win streak and drops the Raiders to 6-3 on the year heading into their regular-season finale.

Harding will visit Austintown Fitch next Friday.